Thomas Bulmer
Sep 2, 2018 · 2 min read

So there are a few points that you could clarify better before abstracting Epictetus to fit your personal narrative.

What’s your understanding of Stoicism? Are you familiar with its founding notions? The stoics posit that those things that have control over us are to be treated with caution. The objective of a stoic is to be ‘indifferent to the vicissitudes of fortune and to pleasure and pain.’

In Epictetus case, he is not laying blame on the female. He is acknowledging that his lust for her has caused him to deviate from his core principles and that this is something he ought to take note of for himself and to preach in his stoic teachings, so that others too may note and adjust their response.

It’s funny you mention the locus of control. A core stoic belief is that we cannot choose what happens to us, but we can choose how we respond, ie we must focus on our locus of control. The preferred response, as stated above, is indifference. This is not indifference in the sense of not caring but in the sense of not allowing the fact that one does care to impact on the decision to uphold the highest level of virtue, regardless of the price that must be personally paid for doing so.

No true Stoic (as Epictetus was) would relinquish their responsibility, on the contrary, they would see their lust as entirely as their responsibility to shoulder and as such within their control to address the emotions that are causing them to deviate from their core belief. That is why he is writing, to acknowledge the power that the women has over him and to nullify it. Not to prevent himself from acting on his desires against her will, as only monsters do that. Instead, it is to continue to pursue his philosophy in absence of distraction, so that he can continue to strive toward the goals of virtue and honour.

Not only have you abstracted these good intentions to denigrate Epictetus’. You’ve then reinforced your argument with a poorly worded excerpt that lumps all men together and as a result, only serves to further the divide on what has become the battleground of men vs women.

In an attempt to signal your virtue, you have questioned that of another, with little to no evidence. In the process, you have grouped together half of our species, many of whom practice Stoicism to be the best they can be and pursue the highest good. Ironically, this was all done to serve your ego. Even more ironically, well known stoic author Ryan Holiday has written a book called ‘Ego is the Enemy’.

Perhaps as a lesson in Stoicism, you can read that and simultaneously evaluate what you’ve written here, whilst looking for signs of sexism within Stoicism, of which there are none. When you’re done, perhaps you will even consider writing a new well-researched article that doesn't divide our species.

    Thomas Bulmer

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